In July, Digital Trends reported that Huawei is expecting to launch its first foldable smartphone sometime in 2019. The technology company, which trails behind leading manufacturer Samsung, is reportedly trying to beat its competition to the market by introducing the first smartphone with a foldable casing. Then, to top it off, on Friday Huawei also announced that its new foldable phone will have 5G capabilities, reports T3 . Huawei chairman Ken Yu reportedly made the announcement at the World Economic Forum.
“In our first [5G] smartphone we’re going to introduce a foldable screen,” Yu said.
Apparently, the company had previously stated that it had 5G devices in the works, but this is the first time Huawei revealed that the new technology would be featured at the same time as the new foldable technology. T3 claims that the innovation of providing 5G capabilities in larger-cased foldable phone models is a smart idea. 5G service is going to require higher battery usage, which means that phone batteries which need to cool will require spacious casings to do so. Since the foldable case model is larger in size than the traditional “mini-sized” smartphones people have become accustomed to, it will leave more room for larger batteries and their needed cooling space.
Huawei launching a ‘foldable’ 5G phone to rival Apple’s new iPhone XS https://t.co/guAhO9iGXH
— The Sun Tech (@TheSunTech) September 21, 2018
According to the Huawei Canada website, “5G is Now. The manufacturer claims that wireless technology needs are advancing at phenomenal rates, which demand “flexible, reliable, and secure networks” to allow businesses and consumers full access to everything mobile. Currently, 4G networks are not keeping up with data needs, Huawei says. There are three dimensions to a wireless network that Huawei claims will be improved in a 5G system: “number of connections, latency, and throughput.”
Huawei says that current 4G networks are not able to support the number of connections that today’s mass technology society demands. Faster signals without delays (latency) are becoming of utmost importance because new technologies, such as self-driving cars, are demanding faster data processing times. “Throughput” regards the amount of data able to be transferred through the network at a time. With the amount of streaming data people are using today, 4G throughput is quickly outgrown.
Tom’s Guide states that Huawei, based in China, has been pulling into a close second with Korean Samsung as far as phone sales go. Sometimes Apple takes over the second place spot, but Huawei continues to alternate with the iPhone company, holding tight close to the top. Huawei’s launch of the new foldable 5G phone next year may put the company at the top.
